1999 Malibu no start

I have a 1999 Chevy Malibu, V-6, and today while I was driving it turned off. I tried to start it again and the engine turned on for a couple of seconds then turned off. I waited a couple of minutes and it started and I was able to drive a couple of miles home. The electrical seems okay. I had a new thermastat put in last week. Not sure what's wrong.

Has it not been running very good or is this just a one time thing. If it hasn't been running very good check the fuel filter. It should be clear and if there is any purple color on the filter replace it.

The engine dying was a one time thing. But now that I think about it my car hasn't been running at it's best lately. I will check the fuel filter today.
by the way. I have over 124,000 miles on it.

Hi,

We have a 1999 Malibu and have similar problems with the engine shutting off. I took it to 2 local mechanics and he could not find anything wrong. I just took it to the dealer and he said that the battery is leaking acid and this acid corroded the cabling. The car has 72K miles and this is the original battery. Once they replace the battery and the cabling, they will know if this fixes the problem but it appears that the direction is correct i.e. electrical problem that is intermittent. I hope they fix it because the cost is about $ 475 for this.

Good Luck

I had my dad look at it last night and he couldn't find anything wrong with it and it hasn't done it since yesterday morning. I had a new battery and alternator put in two years ago. I will double check the battery though. Thanks.

I've had the same problem with the no start, found that the +battery cable was so corroded that the metal post came off of the battery on inspection. This caused the same symptoms i.e. will run sometimes but then just shut off for no reason then maybe run again later until the side post fell out of the battery.

Check the battery and cables yesterday and they are good. I also replaced the fuel filter. It died again tonight while I was turning into a parking lot, luckily. It started right back up again.